The Lafayette International Center Foundation and the Lafayette International Center, bestowed the 22nd International Achievement Award (IAA) upon the Louisiana Rice Industry. The presentation ceremony took place on the front steps of the International Center in downtown Lafayette, on Thursday, April 28, 2022, in front of a gathering of City-Parish officials, representatives of the Louisiana Rice Industry, past honorees of the Award, and members and past members of the Foundation.

Dave Domingue, Director of the Lafayette International Center, opened the event by welcoming the guests present and introducing the CAO of Lafayette Consolidated Government, Cydra Wingerter, who was representing Mayor-President Josh Guillory. Ms. Wingerter welcomed everyone to Lafayette, pointing out that Lafayette has a long history of welcoming individuals from many parts of the globe. She noted that the Lafayette International Center is the International Trade arm of the Lafayette Consolidated Government, and that the Center has, since its inception, helped bring over 107 million dollars into the local economy.

After Festival International President Sami Parbhoo welcomed all of the local and international guests to the Festival, Domingue gave a brief summary of the development of the rice industry in Louisiana and Acadiana. The LSU Rice Research Center in Crowley says that rice likely came to the US by boat from Madagascar to the port of Charleston, South Carolina, sometime in the 18th century. From there, rice production followed a south-westerly migration during the 19th century, making its way through plantations and farms in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and, finally, Louisiana.

At first, rice was a staple crop grown for the plantation slave labor force along the Louisiana banks of the Mississippi River. It migrated westward in the years after the Civil War. Those wheat and corn farmers found their customary crops ill-suited to Louisiana's wet climate. Then the rice industry was mechanized and modernized with seeders, binders and threshers.

Where an abundance of water presented a problem for other crops, rice thrived in those conditions. Steam pumps and adjacent bayous provided an abundant source of water for enterprising farmers. The Cajun prairies also have a lagniappe feature in the form of a dense subsurface layer of clay. That pack of hardened earth creates a basin that contains pumped-in water, making for efficient use of an embarrassment of hydrological riches.

Milling came later in the 19th century, moving an essential business from New Orleans to Acadia Parish. Rice could be separated from husks and milled to remove the outer bran layer. Then rice enrichment by Wright Enterprises in Crowley, re-introduced to white grains the vitamins and nutrients stripped off by the milling process. Soon after, a symbiotic relationship developed between the farming of rice and crawfishing. Flooded fields provide an excellent breeding ground for crawfish.

• At its height in the mid-20th century, Louisiana's rice production was the nation's largest and most cutting-edge.
• Rice has been produced throughout the world for thousands of years, and today it is a staple food for more than 3.5 billion people.
• The US Department of Agriculture estimates that this year Louisiana will have planted almost a half-million acres of rice.
• While approximately half of the rice produced in the U.S. is consumed there, the other half is exported around the globe including providing food to the world’s hungry.

In Acadiana, the number of plate lunch houses serving rice and gravy on a daily basis gives an idea of just how important the crop remains as a cultural icon in the area. Rice is a given in Louisiana cuisine, regardless of the time of day or year. Very few meals are complete without a dollop of steamed rice, a scoop of rice dressing or a lagniappe of jambalaya. Despite its foreign origins, rice is a product that binds folks in Acadiana to their earth and gives a sense of culinary unity.

Domingue concluded by saying, “Louisiana is America's third-largest rice producing state, with most of our rice production taking place in and around Acadiana. Rice production and processing are estimated to generate about $380 million in revenue each year and account for thousands of jobs. It is no surprise that rice represents a vital part of Louisiana’s –and Acadiana’s—economy, and a major export.”

Accepting the award on behalf of the Louisiana Rice Industry was Sam Wright of the Wright Group, the fourth generation of his family in the rice business.